Messenger
by skutti2000
Summary: When a girl named Anjali mysteriously shows up at the fence, Eric is intrigued. Unfortunately for him, Anjali doesn't remember a thing. The brash eighteen-year-old with an attitude gets under his skin, too. And as Anjali is brought into the Dauntless compound, a suspicious trail of contradictions following her, it's going to be a tough ride for more than just Eric. No war Eric x OC
1. The Beginning

_Water_.

The world was cloudy, draped in a foggy haze. Only one word came through.

 _Water._

* * *

Routine checks are always the worst.

As a leader, it's my duty to check the guards on the fence once in a while, making sure that they're not doing drugs or anything like that. Max always give me the same speech when I complain about the checks.

"Eric, a faction is like-"

"A well-oiled clock." I rolled my eyes.

"Yes, precisely. Each gear has its own specific purpose. But what happens if one gear doesn't do its job?"

"The gear gets a lot of extra free time on his hands instead of wasting it on a fence," I muttered under my breath.

Max whipped his head around, glaring at me. "What was that?"

"The clock stops working, sir."

"Exactly. You are one of the gears in this faction." He leaned down, bringing his face close to mine. "Do your job."

So that's why I was here, talking to hungover Dauntless members that really should've been factionless at the end of initiation.

"Dude, just chill. We'll do our job, 'kay? Now can you leave?" Brady flipped his long blond hair out of his face. He smelled suspiciously of marijuana.

"Just get out of the way. I have better things to do right now." Marlene had just made a new batch of Dauntless cake back at the compound…

Come on, Eric. Focus.

"Where's Four, anyway? Max usually has him do this job." Brady mumbled.

"Four was taken with...other things." Namely, an exclusive party for Max's friends. That I was not invited to. "Anyway, I can make you suffer, so I wouldn't give me any of that attitude if I were you."

"Oh really? I don't think so. Max doesn't even like you. I bet that if it wasn't for your nerdy aunt over in Erudite you would be out here like us, guarding the fence."

I felt anger rising in the back of my throat. "Jeanine Matthews has nothing to do with my leadership position. I earned it myself."

"Yeah? I bet you couldn't even pass stage one."

"I was first." Then some little Abnegation kid with four fears beat me on stage two.

Brady tossed his mane. "I bet I could take you on right now." He thrust his face near mine in a show of intimidation, and that's when I caught a whiff of the alcohol. What was he doing, getting high and drunk on the fence? "I bet I could knock you out in one punch."

I rolled my eyes and swept his feet out from under him, then pinned him to the ground. "I'd like to see you try." I was about to do something worse when I heard _her_.

"Please...anyone…" I let go of Brady, curious.

"Water…"

I rushed to the edge of the fence and peered down. A girl with long black hair was just outside the city. I turned back to Brady and pointed at her. "Who is she?" When he didn't answer, I went up to him and slapped his face. He had blacked out.

I sighed and called for backup. After a couple minutes we were able to pull the girl up onto the fence. Her hair was tangled and covered her face.

I brushed the knotted strands away. Her skin was a deep brown; she looked relatively plain. I didn't recognize her from the ranks in Dauntless, and her clothing was a discombobulation of colors-purple, blue, white, gray. Her eyes were closed. She had fallen unconscious. Her lips were cracked and dry. Who could she be? I pulled out my canteen and let the water trickle into her mouth.

"Eric?" I turned around, and striding towards me was none other than Four.

"Four. What are you doing here?"

"I was...down monitoring the factionless sector when I heard a commotion by the fence." Max had called him to check on me, no doubt. He glanced at Brady, who had finally got up and was fishing for his canteen in his pack, then at the mysterious girl at my feet. He pointed to her. "Who's she?"

"No one you need to know," I say, making my voice icy and sharp. I wanted to like Four when he was in my initiation class; I really did. The little Stiff became first rank, and while he was competition I also saw him as a possible ally. But he's just so irritating! Always meddling where he's not supposed to. The only thing he's done right since initiation is preventing Jeanine's war on Abnegation before it happened. I'm not a big fan of Stiffs, but slaughtering them all is just overkill, no pun intended.

Abnegation wasn't the only thing Jeanine was wrong about.

"Eric?" Four waved his hand in my face, snapping me back to the present. "What are you doing? Take her arms." His expression is one of utter annoyance that I'm sure I'm mirroring. He's holding one side of the girl, her feet. Stupid.

"You need to be careful with her head. We don't know what she's been through." I scowl at him. "Drop her feet." He raises his eyebrows and lowers her legs to the ground. I kneel next to her and pick her up, bridal style, making sure to cradle her head. "She's not too heavy. I'll be fine carrying her myself. Radio ahead to the infirmary to get a bed ready."

As Four talks to Christina over the radio, I shift the girl's body in my arms. Her head rolls back a bit, revealing a tattoo on her collarbone. So she must be Dauntless...interesting. I've never seen her around the Compound. As I carry her to the Compound behind Four, I'm deep in thought. Why was she outside the wall? How long had she been out there? Who had left her there? Had she gone by herself? I feel her burrow her head into my shoulder a little and smile. She's alive. Thank God.

I gently lay her down on an empty bed in the infirmary. Christina rushes to my side. "Thank you, Eric. I'll see to this one immediately."

"It's your job," I say curtly. While I may have liked Four once upon a time, the Candor smartmouth Christina has never been one of my favorites. I nod to her and then leave, finishing up the rest of the checks Max has given me. As I lay in bed that night, I can't get a particular tattoo out of my head.

 **Hey everyone! I'm pretty excited about this particular story and I hope you guys are too! Please offer any tips, suggestions, comments, hate mail, ANYTHING! I always have an open mind, and constructive criticism is _always_ appreciated. Please review! Thank you, ~skutti2000**


	2. The Planning

Rocking. Gentle rocking. The water rejuvenated me, those precious hydrating drops, but my body still felt like a two-ton weight. The rocking did me in. It lulled me, soothed me, back into a place between heaven and hell. Just murky sounds smearing together into a type of cacophony. But I'm so warm here. Whatever is cradling me is rock solid but softly warm at the same time. I feel the motion allowing drowsiness and exhaustion to overcome my body.

* * *

Early the next morning, I decide to check on the girl I found outside. I saved her life; now she owes me some answers to questions that have been rolling around my head all night.

But to my surprise, her bed is empty.

I quickly track down Christina, who's filling an IV bag. "Where is she?"

"Who?"

"The girl I gave you yesterday. She didn't seem to be in a position to leave so early."

Christina scoffed. "You need to trust me to do my job. And anyway, I didn't let her go. She just wanted to go on a walk, and I saw no harm in it." She pointed down the hallway towards the Chasm. "She went that way."

I followed Christina's direction until I see a figure perched on top of the Chasm railing. The pole is slippery, but she holds on with a tight grip, looking out towards the rapids on the bottom of the Pit. I walk up to her, making my footfalls loud so I don't scare her.

She turns around and glances at me, then hops off the railing back onto the path. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. She has smooth brown skin and glossy black hair halfway down her back. Her eyes are like melted dark chocolate, and there's a certain fire in them that mesmerizes me for a second. A smile plays on her lips.

"Hi, I don't believe we've met. I'm Anjali, and you are?" She holds out her hand expectantly.

"Eric," I say, shaking her hand. Definitely Dauntless. Only we have the habit of shaking hands. I'm surprised she is talking to me so easily though; the people of Dauntless have learned to fear me over the years I've been a leader. But wait. She doesn't know my name. Could she be…?

She turns back to the Chasm, her back to me. I join her, looking out over the gushing water. There's a moment of peaceful silence before she says to me, "This is so beautiful."

I can't hold back a laugh. "The Chasm? Are you serious? It's just water coming out of a rock wall."

"Not the Chasm itself. The water." Her expression grows wistful. "It's so free, and wild...it just appeals to me for some reason. It has the power to change things and carve its own path."

"Do you go by here every day, staring and thinking deep thoughts?" I joke. This is rare. I never joke.

"Um." She tucks some of her hair behind her ear, embarrassed. "I don't really come by here often, I guess."

"But you're Dauntless." A nagging suspicion grows inside of me, taking root amid my weird mood shift. "During initiation you're by here a lot, and even then the Chasm is pretty central to

Dauntless life."

She shifts uncomfortably. "I was just sheltered, okay? My parents never let me come near the Chasm. They said it was too dangerous to be playing near there and all that."

"That doesn't seem very Dauntless of them." I narrow my eyes. "What are their names? Maybe I know them."

She takes a step back from the railing and crosses her arms defiantly. "Why would _you_ know them, of all people? I just met you."

 _The insolence!_ I feel my fists clench as I tower over her. I just realized how short she is. "I'm a leader here. It's my duty to know my faction. And I have to say, I can't say I've known you before. Don't you find that a little strange, Anjali? That's your name, right?"

An expression of fear covers her features, but before she can answer Christina calls down the hallway for her to come back. Relief floods her face as she hears Christina's voice. "Coming, one second," she yells back. But before she leaves, she faces me, a closed expression on her face. "I'm sorry that we'll have to cut our _pleasant_ meeting short, but I'm due somewhere else." She stalks away from me, her hair blowing out behind her.

I look down the tunnel after her. I'm furious, of course, as she dares to talk back to the leader of her faction and deny him information,

But there's a little part of me that admires her for that very reason.

* * *

 _That was close._ I need to be careful around Eric. I had no idea that he was a leader here.

Then again, lately I don't remember much.

It's a miracle I even knew my own name. Even that is only partial- my last name has vanished from my mind. Christina said that there was never an Anjali at Dauntless, so I know I'm not from here. But if not here, then where?

I'm happy Christina's my nurse, because she agreed to keep my secret. She told me she would arrange for me to have some false records until I found out who I really was. I really appreciate her taking risks for me, but I guess some secret part of me hoped that I would know my identity by now. It's been two days for God's sake.

Amnesia is weird. It's not that my mind feels empty; on the contrary, I can almost _feel_ my memories there. But it's like it's blocked, giant cement neuro-walls closing off my mind and leaving the name Anjali alone in the center.

"Hey, how are you doing?" Christina smiles as she takes my pulse from my wrist.

"Okay, I guess. Nothing's back though."

She nods, knowing exactly what I mean by the phrase _nothing's back_. "I have a contact at Erudite. I could get them to whip up some kind of serum."

I'm about to say yes when my mind begins screaming for the opposite. _Don't do it. Don't do it. Not Erudite. Not Erudite._

"Um, no thanks, I'll manage." I don't remember much, but if I get any message from my brain at this point, I'm trusting it.

Christina raises a perfectly plucked eyebrow. "Seriously? You don't want your memories back."

"It's not that. I just want my memories back on my own terms."

She nods and continues checking on me. My mind wanders to the day before. All I remember are those strong arms, carrying me to the infirmary and gently lulling me to unconsciousness.

"Hey Christina?"

"Mmhmm?" she says, scribbling on a clipboard.

"Who brought me here? Who got me to the infirmary? All I remember is a pair of arms carrying me."

She smirks. "Eric. He's always been a coldhearted, distant kind of guy, so you could imagine our surprise when he walked in cradling a passed out girl."

Eric?

No way.

"He isn't a leader, is he?" I cross my fingers behind my back.

"He's the most feared leader of all of Dauntless! You need to learn that before you cross paths with him."

I give her a sheepish smile. "What if I already did…?"

* * *

I'm walking back to the leader apartments when someone pulls me into one of the dark hallways.

Reflexively, I elbow my attacker in the groin and hear a very familiar "Oof".

I turn around and see Four doubled over in front of me. "What do you want?"

"We need to talk," he wheezes. He puts his hands on his knees. "Geez, Eric, if I didn't know any better I'd say I'm back in initiation."

"You pulled me into a dark hallway. What am I supposed to do?"

Four's recovered by now, and his emotionless face stares back at me. "Where can we meet up privately?"

"My apartment?"

He shakes his head no. "Cameras. I'm lucky I found a hallway with none in the first place."

Oh, so it's _that_ kind of meeting. "The bathroom."

"The bathroom?" He quirks an eyebrow. ""Won't there be other people there?"

"Not if it's out of order." I check my watch. "Look, it's been absolutely lovely seeing you, but I have a date with my bed that I missed yesterday."

He smirks. "That's the only thing you would be able to get a date with."

"Shut up." I curl my lip and punch him in the face, pleased when he's caught off guard. I walk out of the hallway and immediately bump into Max.

He looks behind me and sees Four, probably pathetically crawling away. "What were you boys doing in there?"

"Just cleaning up some unfinished business." I crack my knuckles as a show.

"Walk with me, Eric." I come up beside him, knowing that I'm in for another lecture. "Remember the clock analogy?"

"Yes sir." I roll my eyes. "You told me yesterday."

"That's exactly it. I feel like I've been using it a bit too much with you." He stops and turns toward me. "Fights are a part of Dauntless. Hell, fights _are_ Dauntless. But sometimes that's a weakness." He crosses his arms. "A bad temperament can blind you. I've seen it happen with a lot of people, and more recently I've seen it happen with you. Dauntless is not just about increasing strength; it's also about eradicating weakness. And this weakness that you have is huge."

"If I may interject," I say, my fists clenching, "my temper and I are fine just the way we are. And that adrenaline often comes in handy when confronted with something bad from, oh, let's say _another faction_ , for example." He flinches, and I smirk. Jeanine's almost-attack is a sore chord with him, mostly because he let it happen under his own nose.

Suddenly his face hardens, and I know I've crossed the line. "Eric. Your temper problems end now, or your leadership position does. And I've got a great spot on the fence ready for you if that happens." He stalks away, and I'm left in the middle of the hallway, dumbfounded.


	3. The Befriending

**All rights to Divergent characters go to Veronica Roth, and the characters of Ana and Scott go to missalohahula. Anjali is completely mine.**

Christina, with much begging, has _finally_ let me go. She got her boyfriend Will to get me an apartment here. Though I'm glad to be out of the infirmary, I'm going to miss her.

At least I know my age now. Right before I left one of the many neurowalls came crashing down. I now know that I'm eighteen. According to Christina, that means I passed initiation two years ago, a year after her class. With some finagling Will was able to plant some false records for me under that year. I graduated fourth in my class; the person who really did graduate fourth died during a fight near the Chasm. I think. I'm not sure. It's hard to ponder anything nowadays.

"Well here we are." Will, who Christina told to lead me to my room, stops in front of a door with the number 205 appliqued to the front. He hands me the keys. "You think you'll be alright on your own from now on? I have something back in the control room I need to take care of." He jerks a thumb back the way we came.

I don't want to be left alone, but I manage to smile anyway. "Sure, that's fine. Thanks for all your help!"

"No problem. I'll be in the control room if you need anything." With that, he's gone, and the question of where the control room even _is_ dies on my lips.

I unlock the door and go in. I walk over to the windows and open the blinds, white sunlight filtering throughout the room. There's a black couch in front of a TV with a black beanbag in the corner. In another corner there's a black desk with a black rolling chair. Except for the walls and the gray cement floor, everything is black upon black upon black.

There's another room connecting to the main living room with a mattress. Someone made the bed for me, with black blankets and pillows of course. Connected to the bedroom is a closet with black clothes, from tank tops to jackets to jeans to stilettos. I eye a pair of combat boots in the corner that look especially inviting. I'm feeling the texture of a black lace dress when I see a bag hidden behind some clothes. I open it to find underwear of all sorts and I blush. There's a note on the bag too. "Check the bottom - Christina," I mutter under my breath. Underneath all of it are clothes of different colors, purple and white and blue and yellow. When I woke up, I was already dressed in black. This must be what I was wearing before…

Before...

I feel the air whooshing out of my lungs as I look at them. The walls in my mind are cracking, ready to fall. I shut my eyes and brace myself for the onslaught.

Then I hear a sharp rapping on the door, and the moment is broken. The walls are back to their impenetrable selves and I groan. The rapping begins again, more like a banging this time.

"I'm coming!" I yell, frantically cramming all of my old clothes into the bag and shutting the closet. I run to the door and wrench it open.

Ugh, it's him.

"Ugh, it's you again," Eric says. "Of course it's you," he mumbles.

I put my hands on my hips. "Is there something you want, or are you just going to keep cursing my name under your breath?"

A flash of annoyance crosses his features. "Yes, there's something I want. Can I come in?"

"No."

"You really know how to show Dauntless hospitality."

"Thank you." I roll my eyes. "Now what do you want?"

"Um…" He scratches the back of his neck. "This is kind of an inside conversation."

"Fine." I let him in and slam the door behind him. He begins to walk around, staring intently at things like the blank wall and the empty desk. I try to suppress the feeling of nervousness that starts to rise within me.

He turns to me. "You know, I thought this apartment was uninhabited."

"It was." I swallow. "I just got it."

"Really? But you would've gotten it just after initiation two years ago." He tilts his head.

"Yeah, I, um…"

He smirks. He knows he has me. "Someone's finally at a loss for words."

"I'm sorry, give me a second." I sit down on the couch, my fingers massaging my temples. Something about Eric's interrogation is giving me a pounding headache.

He sits himself down next to me. His gaze has changed from conniving to clinical. "What's wrong?"

"My head…" I can barely think, the pain is so strong. "It…"

"Amnesia," he whispers, a trace of awe under his breath. "So you remember nothing?"

Immediately the burden is lifted, and I can think clearly again. "Nothing. I was almost there, but then someone knocked on my door." I glare at him.

He stands back up and begins to pace around the room. "What were you doing outside the fence?"

"What fence?"

His stare pierces mine. " _The_ fence."

"I have no idea what you're talking about. And I just woke up here...I don't remember anything before that."

He furrows his brow. "Anjali, what are the five factions of the city?"

"Dauntless, Erudite…" I trail off. I don't know. Those two are just the ones I've heard about. I'm still trying to grasp some of these city customs; none of them seem to come back to me.

"What is this called?" He points to the TV.

"A television, of course. I know _that_. I may have amnesia but I'm not stupid." I pick at my cuticles, anticipating the next question, but when I hear nothing I look up. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

He shakes his head as if to clear his thoughts, but the dazed look remains in his eyes. "I have to go." With that he walks out of my apartment, gently closing the door behind him.

* * *

 _I may have amnesia but I'm not stupid._

She doesn't know the faction names, but she knows what a television is, something that only Dauntless members get to have.

 _I may have amnesia but I'm not stupid._

In a way that's good, right? It just solidifies the fact that she was actually part of Dauntless.

 _I may have amnesia but I'm not stupid._

What place did she get in her initiation class? Fifth?

 _I may have amnesia but I'm not stupid._

Fourth?

 _I may have amnesia but I'm not stupid._

Two years ago…

 _I may have amnesia but I'm not stupid._

Fourth was a male that year. I remember him. Logan.

 _I may have amnesia but I'm not stupid._

I remember Logan a little too well.

 _I may have amnesia but I'm not stupid_.

"Will you cut that out?" I yell. Members passing me give me odd looks and I glare at them all. I am done with that girl. She's been getting to me. Her, Max, and Four, all throwing some party together to overwhelm Eric. I see your plans. I know what you're doing.

I sigh and plop down on a bench, raking my hands through my hair. I'm going insane. It's confirmed.

"Hey." I look up and see Lynn standing in front of me, her hands stuffed in her pockets. She points to the seat next to me on the bench. "That taken?"

I shake my head no and she sits down. Lynn was in the initiation class from three years ago, two years under mine. She's quiet and a bit moody and standoffish, but in a different way from Four. Four is stealthily dangerous; Lynn is just a cynic. We have an unspoken agreement where we are hospitable enough to each other. I wouldn't call it a friendship, but more of a mutual understanding.

She leans back and pulls out a blue plastic oval with a translucent cover. She flips open the cover, revealing a screen. Different shapes float down from the top of the screen to the bottom.

"What's that?" I lean towards her, trying to get a better view of the game.

"Some pre-war game." She flips the shapes using rubber buttons on the side. "You're supposed to make all the shapes fit in rows so that the rows disappear. If the shapes get stacked all the way to the top, you lose. It's called Tet...Tetra...something." I watch her playing the game for a few minutes.

A door slams down the hallway, catching my attention. A familiar figure with long black hair is walking towards us. Her boots are silent on the cement floor, and she holds her head high with confidence.

She walks by us, then stops, and turns around. I try not to make eye contact and just stare at Lynn's game.

"Do you know where the cafeteria is? I don't know the way there, and I don't want to get lost in this place." I look up, but Anjali is only looking at Lynn, not me. Strangely, I feel a surge of disappointment.

"You're talking to me?" Lynn raises her eyebrows, a hard edge in her voice. Lynn is almost as good at intimidating people as I am.

But to my surprise, Anjali doesn't shrink or take a step back. Instead, she seems to grow taller. "Yes, I am. Would you mind helping a fellow Dauntless member out?"

Lynn turns off the game. There goes my distraction. "Sure, I was just thinking of going. I'll walk you there." She stands up to leave before turning back. "You good, Eric? You look like you've seen a ghost." Her eyes flick between me and Anjali.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine."

"Come on, I'll take you to the cafeteria." She leaves. Anjali finally glances at me and follows her. I track her back into the distance.

* * *

Lynn, which I found out is my guide's name, isn't very talkative. She seemed friendly enough with Eric, which I found odd because...well, he's Eric. After we get food, she leads me to a corner of a cafeteria with a table that's almost packed full, but seems to be slowly clearing out. I recognize Christina and Will, but that's it. There's a tall brown-haired guy with a hooked nose and corners of a tattoo peeking out of his shirt. His arm is wrapped discreetly around a petite blonde's waist. A cute brunette rests her head on the shoulder of the boy next to her. Lynn secures us two seats across from the blonde. She gives me a tired smile. Her boyfriend doesn't even acknowledge my presence.

"Hey, this is all of my friends." She awkwardly motions to them with one hand and then digs into her dinner.

Christina rolls her eyes. "Typical Lynn, not giving a proper introduction." She points to the blonde. "Anj, this is my best friend, Tris. Her moody boyfriend over there is Four."

Four scowls at her. "Watch it."

"I'm Tris' best friend, I have immunity." She laughs and moves on. "And this is Ana and Scott. They're from the year below you, so you may not know them." I don't know anybody, I want to say, but I just wave at them.

Ana points to my hair. "It's so beautiful! Can I braid it?"

"Um, sure, maybe later."

Christina stands up on top of the table and whistles loudly. All the attention shifts to her as the steady murmur of the Dauntless cafeteria falls into silence. A fork clatters on a plate as eyes settle on our table.

"Everyone, this is Anjali!" she shouts. The crowd mumbles something that sounds like "Hi, Anjali" while some just sit silent.

She turns to me, her mouth lifted in one corner. "Anjali, this is everyone."

"Hello everyone." My voice ends up sounding like a kitten's mewl, and cracks at the end. My hands are sweaty and I feel myself shaking. Smooth, Anjali, smooth.

The Dauntless soon begin to turn back to their dinners as the constant hum of conversation starts up again. I sit down and take a bite of my hamburger while everyone stares at me.

"What?"

"Abnegation's crossed off the list then." Christina looks at me, her eyes sparkling. She points at Tris. "This one didn't even know what a hamburger was when she saw one for the first time."

Tris blushes. "Hey, Abnegation doesn't eat burgers, it's not my fault." Four chuckles and pulls her closer.

"Amity's crossed off, too," Scott says. "I remember Ana was totally disgusted by the idea of eating an animal."

"I'm _still_ totally disgusted!" She crosses her arms. "I'm not eating anything that had a face on it."

"What are you guys even doing?" I put down my burger.

Christina shrugs. "I told them all about your amnesia. We're going to find out where you came from."

"What if I don't want you guys to?" The table goes silent for a second, everyone looking thoughtfully into the distance.

Ana finally nods. "I remember reading from somewhere that amnesia is your brain's way of protecting you from something."

"But don't you want to know what that something is, Anjali? Aren't you curious?" Lynn shakes her head. "I know I would be."

"I...I guess." The truth is, I don't really want to know. Yes, it would be great to know who I really am and where I came from. Yes, I have questions that I would love answered. But this taste of normal life has been great so far. Getting my own apartment, talking to different Dauntless members, sitting down at a crowded table to have dinner...it seems like bliss. I don't want to have to remember anything that upsets my peace.

"That leaves Candor, Erudite, or Dauntless," Will rests his head on his chin, studying me. "Any of those seem familiar?"

"Um…" I think back to when Erudite was setting off alarm bells in my head. But that's not because it seemed familiar, but because it seemed dangerous. "No. None of them do."

Will looked like he was about to say something else when a shadow enveloped our table.

"Eric." Four nods in his direction. Tris stiffened beside him, and Christina grabbed Will's arm.

Eric raises his eyebrow and surveyed our table. "Relax. I won't bite." He smirked. "For now."

"What do you want, Eric?" Four growled.

Eric didn't answer; his eyes had fallen on me. "Oh, look at that, the faction reject club took in another member."

"Shut up, Eric." I gritted my teeth.

He put his hands up in mock surrender. "Down, girl."

"Eric, you're a transfer too," Four pointed out. Everyone else nodded. I wonder where he transferred from.

He cracked his knuckles loudly. I saw Ana wince. "But now I'm pure Dauntless, aren't I? Four, let's go."

"Fine." Four kisses Tris on the top of her head and stands. "I'll be right back." With that, he walks out, following Eric out of the cafeteria.

Tris looks after them for a moment, and then looks back at us. "Give me a second." With that, she goes after Four.

"That girl, always trying to protect her man." Christina laughs and shakes her head. "It's bad enough he's worried about everything. He didn't have to take her along." She notices that I'm not giggling along with the rest of the able. "Anjali, what's wrong?"

I observe Christina for a second. She's a loud charismatic, liked instantly by almost everyone she meets. It's easy to see that she's at home here at Dauntless. When she knows what she wants, she gets it, and she prides herself on knowing everything about everybody.

In other words, she won't understand the fact that I don't want to know about my previous life.

"Nothing." I plastered a smile on my face and ate a forkful of cake. I immediately gagged. I'm not a chocolate person.

Christina quirked an eyebrow. "We can cross off Dauntless, too."

 **Thanks for reading guys! You're the best. Please review on the previous chapters! Improvements, plot suggestions, hate mail, anything's good. What do you think is going to happen? When is Anjali finally going to get her memory back?**


	4. The Meeting

_**Last time, on Messenger:**_

 _Eric cracks his knuckles loudly. I see Ana wince. "But now I'm pure Dauntless, aren't I? Four, let's go."_

 _"Fine." Four kisses Tris on the top of her head and stands. "I'll be right back." With that, he walks out, following Eric out of the cafeteria._

 _Tris looks after them for a moment, and then looks back at us. "Give me a second." With that, she goes after Four._

* * *

 **ERIC**

Four heads to his apartment. "I just need to get something, hold on. I'll meet you there." He closes the door behind him, and I stroll down the hallway. On the door of the hall bathrooms hung a sign, "Out of Order". I double check to make sure no one was looking before I walked into the bathroom.

I begin to pace. I don't know what this meeting is even about. A year ago, I wouldn't have given Four the time of day about anything. But that all changed after Jeanine's attack. Now, I have no choice but to trust him. For all I know, he knows what's outside those walls.

 _He may not be the only person…_

My train of thought is interrupted by the slamming of the bathroom door. I instinctively jump into my combat stance, but Four waves me down. "At ease, soldier."

"What do you want, Four? What is this meeting about?"

"Hold up a sec." He opens the bag he brought with him and takes out a laptop. He unfolds it and I see a familiar blonde on the screen.

"What's she doing here?"

"Hi, Eric." Tris rolls her eyes.

I look back at Four. "What's going on?"

"Would you care to sit down?" Four motions to a toilet seat. I just glare at him. He's stalling. No pun intended.

"If neither of you knuckleheads are going to say anything, I will." Tris turns her gaze from Four to me. "Eric, we know your test results."

I need to play this off. I need to play this off right now. "Dauntless? No surprise there." I contort my face into a sneer. "I think the better question is, what are two Stiffs like you doing in Dauntless? What were _your_ test results, Stiff? Stiffette?" I inwardly cringe. I'm reaching, and by the look on Tris' face, she knows.

"It's not going to work this time, Eric." Four's eyes freeze my nervous smirk on my face. "You've kept up this facade for a long time so no one would notice. But Tris and I...we know."

I cross my arms. "Fine. Tell me what you know."

"You're Divergent." Tris tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. "Erudite and Dauntless. Honestly, it's almost too obvious. Fortunately, Erudite strategy and Dauntless combat go hand in hand. That's why you were chosen as a leader so early."

I don't correct her. It's true that Jeanine bribed Max to get me into my current position. But I didn't support her decisions. I was the flaw to her plan. Without the Dauntless mole, her scheme fell apart at the seams. Four and Tris think they brought down her empire all by themselves, and I'm too tired to prove them wrong. In fact, I've been too tired to do a lot lately.

"Eric!" Four's harsh voice startles me back to the present. "Pay attention!"

I roll my eyes. "I'm sorry, Instructor Four. Should I drop and give you twenty?"

"Stop bickering, you two. Now Eric," Tris turns to me. "We have some urgent news of utmost importance."

"Lay it on me."

Four leans against the wall, using his foot as a kickstand. "It's Erudite."

"Them again?" I snort. "Look, Four, I may have had some influence on the old Erudite, but not the new one. Shouldn't you be talking to your girlfriend?" I glance at Tris. "You're the one who has a new leader for a brother."

"That's the thing." Tris looks sorrowful. "He's following in Jeanine's footsteps. He wants to kill Divergents."

"How do you know about this?"

"He met up with me." Four scratches the back of his neck. "Tris and I were able to meet him near the Hancock Building a week ago. He wanted Dauntless' partnership in the eradicating of Divergents."

"He picked the wrong faction to ally with. Look, two of the four Dauntless leaders are Divergent, one has a Divergent sibling, and I'm sure Max has some kind of connection with another." Four opens his mouth to speak but I put up a hand to silence him. "Before you ask, yes, I know about Tori and George Wu."

Four smirks. "That's not what I was going to say. I was going to point out that you confirmed that you're Divergent."

"I didn't see the point of lying to either of you. It would just slow things down. What do you propose we do about this entire thing?"

Suddenly, Max's voice echoes through the bathroom. A loudspeaker booms in the corner. "Dauntless-wide meeting in the cafeteria in two minutes."

Four nods once. "We'll continue this discussion another time." He slams his laptop shut and packs his bag. "Wait a little while before leaving." With that, I'm facing the empty air.

* * *

 **ANJALI**

The cafeteria quickly fills up. It doesn't take long before the room begins to get stuffy due to the crowd. I'm pushed up uncomfortably against Scott, and Ana not-so-subtly wraps her arms around him. I guess I'm not completely trusted yet.

A hush falls over the crowd. Max is making his way to a balcony over us. Someone pushes me. I almost fall into Scott before a hand grabs my arm and rights me. I turn to thank the person, but then I see who it is.

"You?"

"I'll meet you at your room after this, okay?" Eric murmurs under his breath.

"Why?" I make no effort at keeping my voice down. A few heads turn around us. Eric sets his steely gaze on them and they turn away, intimidated.

He looks at me for a second, his eyes searching mine, before nodding once with an air of finality. "Your room." With that, he melts away in the crowd.

Max clears his throat once into a microphone, then yells, "Dauntless!" He pumps his fist in the air. The faction does it with him. I make eye contact with Four across the room as the world seems to move in slow motion. His fist isn't up. Interesting. In fact, as I survey the crowd, neither is Tris'...or Eric's. I look back at Four. His stare pierces mine. I feel a blush rising in my cheeks as I drop my head down. One of the perks of having brown skin is that no one knows when you're turning red.

As the world around me goes back to normal, I realize that Max has been speaking all this time. "...new changes on the leadership." He makes a motion with his hand and Four climbs up the stairs on the side of the room to meet Max on the upper balcony. "Four here has completed his leadership training and is now a full-fledged leader." Max pumps his fist again, shouting, "Four!" This time, I join him, as does Tris with a smile that lights up her entire face. Eric does not.

Max claps Four on the back before informing us that he will be getting his leadership tattoos tonight. Then he let's us disperse back to our original activities. I try to find the group I was with during dinner, but they seem to have disappeared. Great. I guess I'm stuck going to my room now.

I take my time. I amble along the hallways, with Dauntless members weaving around me in frustration. I find myself approaching my apartment all too soon, so I take a detour. Unfortunately, due to the fact that I've only been out in the Dauntless Compound for about a day, it's not long before I'm lost. But I guess that's for the better. I just don't want to see Eric again. When he interrogates me, my head hurts so much. The pain is unbearable. Yet there's a tiny part of me that wants to see him again. After all, Eric is the one who brought me to Dauntless. He's the one who knows the most about my past. He could be the key to unlocking my memory. But do I even want that key?

I'm deep in thought when I collide into someone, taking the person down with me as I fall. I look down and see that I'm on top of none other than Eric. He raises an eyebrow.

I stand up and hastily fix my clothes, blushing. "Um, hi, sorry about that."

"Sorry about what? Running into me, or standing me up after Max's meeting?" He crosses his arms.

My embarrassment vanishes as I make my stance match his. "Excuse me, but I tend not to walk into mysterious meetings with random guys without knowing exactly what I'm getting into."

"Why?" He looks genuinely confused now. "It's a meeting. I'm a Dauntless member. What's so strange about it?"

"You know...stranger danger? Don't have meetings with sketchy men?" He still looks puzzled. "Maybe it's a girl thing. Though you should have learned these things in school."

He cocks his head to the side. "School? All I remember learning is Faction History, some math, and Faction Lit. What school did you go to, Anjali?"

"I-I don't know." My voice wavers. The migraine is coming back. I try to suppress it, but it's meaningless.

"That's it." He grabs me by the arm, and I yelp. "You're coming with me."

"W-where?" I silently curse myself for stuttering. I try to yank my arm out of his grip, but his hand is like an iron vice. "I'm sorry, but I'm not going with you anywhere."

He narrows his eyes. "As Dauntless leader, I _command_ you to come with me."

"Really? What'll happen if I don't?" I hold my head up with mock defiance, though inside, I'm quivering.

"You have a very suspicious past, Anjali. I will have no regrets using that against you in a court of law." Suddenly his eyes widen. "That's it. The truth serum."

I scrunch my eyebrows together in confusion. "Truth serum…?"

"But before we use the truth serum we should check your aptitude." He lets go of my arm and paces back and forth in the corridor. I try to rub circulation back into my limbs. "It will probably show us what faction you were originally from. Or it could disprove that theory altogether…"

He's not looking at me anymore, completely taken with his own mind. So I take the opportunity given to me.

I run.

My feet pound on the concrete floors as I sprint away from Eric. At first, I thought Eric was just someone curious, the kind of person that wants to know everything about everybody. But now I know he's so much more dangerous. He was talking about me like I was an experiment, like I wasn't even human. I remember my mother saying to me that wherever humanity is lost, so is safety, and with it, love. Raw human emotions vanish to be replaced by cold calculations.

It takes me a full five minutes after I've reached my apartment to realize the gravity of what I just thought.

I _remembered_.

I throw myself onto the bed, not caring about messing up the sheets. I bury my face into the pillow. These memories...they're not going to come back all at once. I would prefer the overwhelming flood over the tortuous trickle that is reality. A tear drips down my cheek and I hastily wipe it away. Here, I am not allowed to cry. I am Dauntless now.

Someone knocks on the door. I jump up immediately. It must be Eric. I frantically look around, realizing there was nowhere to hide. My ears pick up the faint noise of the door clicking close. He's inside. I dive into the closet and close the door as softly as I can. I try to quiet my breathing, but I feel like everyone can hear my heart thumping in my chest.

Eric walks into my bedroom, light footfalls on the black hardwood. He walks close to the closet. Then he knocks.

I hold my breath. _Please leave, please leave, please don't kill me…_

He knocks again. Then a voice. "Anjali, I know you're in there."

I straighten up. That is not the rumbling bass voice I expected. I open the closet door and find Tris, the blonde beauty, with her arms crossed. She raises an eyebrow. "The closet?"

I shrug, embarrassed. "It was the first thing I could think of. There aren't many places to hide here." I gesture around me.

"Did Chris seriously not show you?" Tris walks over to my bed and feels around the bottom of the headboard. Suddenly, a section of the wall drops off.

"A secret passageway," I breathe.

Tris nods. "There's a button right underneath your headboard. Each room has its own panic center. In case of attack, you can stay safe there. There's food, water, even a restroom."

"Has there ever been an attack?" I laugh. "You'd be crazy to attack the Dauntless Compound. We literally have an army."

My joke dies in the air as she presses her lips together, hardening her face. "It's happened before. Max had these installed soon after."

The silence between us grows until I finally break it. "So, um, why are you here? I doubt you were here just to scare me." I attempt a halfhearted laugh.

She gives me a small smile. "You're right." She hands me an envelope. But before I can say anything, she whispers in my ear, "Open this in the bathroom, nowhere else." She pulls back, and shoots a glance up near the corner of the ceiling. Then her gaze is back on me. "You can't tell anyone, okay? The party needs to be a surprise. That means no giving into Christina, which I know can be hard, but it's necessary." She laughs, and her eyes urge me to play along with the charade, even though I'm fairly sure that the envelope contains more than just an invitation to Christina's fake surprise party.

I squeal, and clutch the envelope tightly. "She's going to be so happy at the big reveal! Though you know Chris...if she knows something's up, then she's going to be incessant."

Tris nods, wearing a look of approval. "Yeah, if she even gets wind of anything going on, it'll ruin everything. She'll practically kill us all!"

"That's a pretty harsh punishment," I reply, a note of humor in my voice. But both of us know that there's nothing humorous about this. "Are you sure?"

She rolls her eyes. "Definitely. Can you picture Chris not knowing something? Because I can't!" We both laugh for a little while. "Seriously though, be there. We'll miss you if you aren't."

"Sure, no problem. I'm excited!"

"And remember." Tris mimes zipping up her lips.

"Got it. Be there, don't let Christina get wind of anything, and don't get caught red-handed!"

"Great. I'll see you there, Anjali." She shoots a look back up towards the corner and leaves me standing in the bedroom, closing the door softly behind her.

I change into my nightclothes before walking to the bathroom, the envelope pressed to my skin under my tank top. I'm still getting used to the bathrooms here. There are toilet stalls in one room and showers with curtains in another. Thankfully, the bathrooms aren't unisex. According to Christina, the initiates have to deal with both genders in the same bathroom, but it's just a scare tactic. Once you become a member, bathrooms are separated again.

I walk into one of the stalls and sit on the toilet. I take out the envelope and tear it open, trying to be as quiet as possible. Inside is a typed letter, as well as a thick card embroidered with black and gold flames. I look at the card first. "An invitation," I mutter with a smile. Tris wasn't lying when she said that there was a party for Christina's birthday. I bite my lip and put the card back in the envelope, and then unfold the letter. I quickly read through it.

 _Anjali,_

 _If you are reading this letter, it is of utmost importance that you are not being watched. Your life is in danger and it is vital that you keep the contents of this letter and any other conversations that follow confidential. If not, then you will be caught and killed._

 _Tomorrow at midnight there is to be a meeting that you will attend. Jump onto the train car third from the end. The train will come around 11:58 pm. Don't draw attention to yourself, and make sure that you are not being followed and you are not under surveillance. More details will come at the meeting._

 _Be brave._

I fold up the letter quickly and put it back in the envelope, stuffing it back in my shirt. I flush the toilet and make my way to the sink, washing my hands. Though I may seem placid on the outside, inside my mind is atwitter. There's something about this letter that makes me want to trust whoever wrote it, and I know I can trust Tris. If Christina trusts her, I can too.

I walk back to my room, shutting the door behind me. There's a lighter in one of the nightstand drawers. I flick it open, watching the flames dance in the dark room. It casts an eerie glow on the black walls. I have to destroy the letter somehow, and burning seems to be the easiest way. But then my eyes flick back to that dreaded corner of the ceiling, and I extinguish the fire, realizing that I'm not safe doing anything confidential in the supposed privacy of my own room. This reminds me of a very old book I read before, _1984_ by a man named George Orwell. Being watched all the time isn't foreign to me as it was before. _Big Brother is always watching_ was one of the most famous lines in the novel.

Why do I remember this?

Why this, of all things? I groan, flinging myself onto the bed with the letter still pressing against my skin. Of course I don't remember anything remotely useful. Some book I read in school is all that comes back to me. I grab the covers and pull them over me, getting comfortable in bed. Eric already cleared up that I didn't go to school where normal people went. Was I some kind of anonymous leper in this society? Or was I not part of this society in the first place? I don't even know where exactly I am, or how big the city is in comparison to the rest of the world. Unless this city _is_ the world, which is how some of the residents here act. But something in my old memory turns this theory down. One city can't encompass the whole world, can it? Random names float in and out of my mind. London. Paris. Buenos Aires. New Delhi. Tokyo. New York. Chicago.

Chicago.

 _Chicago._

It's the last thought I have before exhaustion claims me as one of its own, and I sleep.

* * *

 **ERIC**

I can't leave that _pesky girl_ alone.

I let go of her arm for one second- _one second!_ \- and she's off like Abnegation running from Erudite. Then again, I should have seen it coming. When she ran into me in the hallway, a brief expression of fear flashed across her eyes before she had a chance to compose herself. But for some reason, a tiny part of me broke when I saw that. I'm a Dauntless leader! I should relish the fact that my subjects fear me. And I do. What is so different about Anjali?

 _I_ can't leave that pesky girl alone.

When she runs from me, feet pounding the cement floor, I don't run after her. I just watch. I track the shiny black head until she turns a corner and disappears from view. I'm tired of running after people. I'm tired of having to push information out of everyone here. Being intimidating is difficult; my facade requires constant care and upkeep. Sure, I'm a bit snippy at times, maybe a little more than others, but the cruel initiate instructor and ruthless Dauntless official are both extremes of my real personality. But around here, it's the only way to earn the respect of your fellow members. No one gets points here for being friendly. This isn't Amity.

I turn away, walking back to my apartment. Someone passes me, shoving an envelope to my chest as he walks, and I take it without breaking my stride. When at my apartment, I shut the door and walk to the bathroom. One of the perks of being a leader is that instead of using the common hall bathrooms, you have one of your own. But then I realize that I may not be holding onto my leader bathroom if I'm not careful. I carry the envelope inside the bathroom. The routine is familiar to my body. Making unnecessary noise. Opening the shower door. Turning on the water. Closing the shower door. I close the toilet lid and take a seat. Back when Jeanine was still in power, this was how I read letters from her without supervision from Max. It's a good thing Dauntless has the decency not to put cameras in bathrooms. I'm surprised they haven't already, after the Erudite incident.

I open the envelope in it. There's a simple message typed onto flimsy paper.

 _Tomorrow at 11:58 pm. Train car third from the end. You know what to do. -4_

Leave him to write a note to make things complicated. A simple whisper would have done the job. There's an invitation under the note. Apparently Christina's being thrown a surprise party. There's a separate note inside the invitation in Tris's loopy script. _You're invited for a reason, but you can very easily be kicked out._ Tris hasn't been too fond of me for a while now, so I'm anything but surprised. Something about dangling your best friend over the Chasm must be putting her off, but I can't imagine what.

I turn off the shower and come out of the bathroom, tying a towel around my waist for show. My shed clothes are in a ball in my hand, as are the papers. I stuff all of them into one of the drawers in my room and put on some shorts, stretching. Today has been exhausting, and not of the physical sense. That I could handle. But Anjali's presence has been zapping my energy, and just like that my thoughts turn to her. Why did she run? I had just mentioned the truth serum and the aptitude test when she sprinted away. Could she have something to hide?

Scratch that. If she comes from outside the fence, she _must_ have something to hide. The question is whether or not she knows what she needs to keep hidden. Undoubtedly, her brain is sending warning signals, but she doesn't know why. Wouldn't she want to know? I would. Knowledge is power in this day and age. That's why Erudite came as close as they did to taking over the city. I rub my hand over my face wearily. There has to be somewhere I can look to find out who she really is without confronting her.

My gaze drifts to the computer on my desk. It will be monitored for sure, but there has to be some way I can hack it. After a few hours of scanning through programming, I finally find a hole and send a worm in. It's not long before I'm through. This was an old Erudite trick, and I'm honestly astonished that the computer nerds in the control room haven't closed the hole yet. I now have complete unmonitored control of the city databases. First, I cross-reference Anjali's name across all the different factions. I don't get anything of use; an Anjali popped up in Amity, but she died a couple years ago. So Anjali was never part of the city, and she's definitely not a Dauntless member. But then who is she? It's been rumored for years that there's life hidden among the desolation outside the fence, but the wars invalidated any chance of life. It's basic Faction History. But Anjali's existence puts all that into question.

I get off the computer and crawl into bed. There's something about her that keeps her at the forefront of my mind. She's a puzzle that I can't figure out, and it's driving me insane. I'm surprised Max hasn't commented on my lack of focus yet, but then again, I've been so preoccupied with Anjali that I haven't stopped by his office since he cornered me in the hallway.

My thoughts begin to drift a little. I begin to imagine where Anjali could have come from. She went outside the fence, and stayed there for an extended period of time; that much is obvious. The question is whether she was born outside the fence, or if she is a rogue member from one of the factions.

Nevertheless, the gravity of the situation has not gone ignored. There is the possibility that she's just feigning amnesia, and she's an infiltrator from another place. But she has to be a damn good actress for that, and Christina hasn't picked up anything with her past Candor techniques. Not to mention the fact that there _aren't_ any cities out there, outside the fence.

Right?

* * *

 **I tried putting in character point of views just to avoid confusion. This was a pretty long chapter for me to write! R & R, my beloved readers, and see you next chapter! ;) ~skutti2000**

 **P.S. Can't emphasize this enough: criticism and ideas in the reviews section would be most welcome!**


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